The manner in which it was arrived

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Aug 2, 2011, at 9:16 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> My suspicion is that people (or is it one NPR reporter?) are avoiding ending
> a sentence with a "preposition" by the simple expedient of dropping the
> "preposition."

that seems to be going on in some of the omitted-P examples that the Language Loggers have discussed.

a somewhat different case of P-omission:

It’s probably the area of the coast that I had spent the least amount of time [in].
  (Alex Fradkin, interviewed on KQED, 8/2/11)

Though I agree: it would be hard to misread this in the context it appears [in].
  (Derek Wykoff, comment 3/23/11 on Facebook)

...taking place in the same gym that Integrity, along with all the other groups, had displays [in] during General Synod.
  (card from Chris Ambidge of 5/9/10, about an evening of square dancing at Brock University)

... the community that I live [in]
  (writer Jesse Katz, interviewed on Latino USA, heard on KQED 11/2/09)

the first and fourth aren't cases of P-cannibalism.  but they're all cases where a _where_ relative would be fine (instead of a _that_ relative or a zero relative).

Neal's latest example is reminiscent of one Jon Lighter posted here on 4/25/11:

Yesterday an anchor on Fox News referred to a colleague as "someone who we're never able to stay away!" [omitted _from_]

this example doesn't even have the pied-piping that might motivate P-omission.  a few others of this sort:

This is hard territory to mount a rescue [in].
  (BBC reporter, NPR Saturday Morning Edition, 10/8/05, about the scene of earthquakes in Pakistan)

... take a variable that we already know the behavior [of].
  (Laura Staum NWAV presentation, 10/21/05)

Here’s something I should have gone into more detail [on].
  (Jonathan Ginzburg, talk at Stanford, 5/16/07)

That’s something that I think we need to make a change [in].
  (Iowa farmer interviewed on NPR’s Morning Edition, 6/11/07)

... and other important things that we hope to get them the money [for].
  (Rep. Barney Frank on NPR’s Saturday Morning Edition, 1/19/08)

This is a state that John McCain might not do that well [in].
  (reporter David Green on NPR’s Sunday Morning Edition, 1/20/08)

It’s not the Christmas parties you didn’t invite me [to].
  (character on Nash Bridges episode “Javelin Catcher”, seen in re-runs 2/08)

...to receive the endorsement of the president of the united states, a man who I have great admiration, respect and affection [for].
  (John McCain, in a press conference with GWB, 3/5/08)

my interpretation of such examples is not that people are avoiding ending a sentence with a preposition, but that they think the preposition is "understood" in context; the preposition is selected for by the preceding verbal construction.

arnold

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